


Lesson Learned

by Lexen (bluedragoninamber)



Series: Percy In Love:  An Estate for All My Percy Stories [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dysfunctional Relationships, M/M, Not Canon Compliant - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Personal Growth, Power Corrupts, Power Dynamics, Self-Sacrifice, kingsley's ego needs deflating, repost
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-17
Updated: 2019-08-17
Packaged: 2020-09-06 08:51:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20288761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluedragoninamber/pseuds/Lexen
Summary: Even Kingsley Shackelbolt is not immune to the corruption of power.  But will he learn his lesson before it's too late?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Please Read: This story is mine. I am the original and only author. It was first posted on FFN more than five years ago. I don’t remember exactly when. I took all my stories down off the internet and left the HP fandom due to personal reasons. I am now returning to the fandom and reposting some of my old stories. When I posted these stories on FFN, my penname was Lexen (and sometimes Hope4astalemate and bluedragoninamber) though I usually went by Lex. To repeat, this story is mine. Please don’t claim I have stolen it from someone else. Also, please don’t ask me to repost a particular story. I will be reposting only those stories which I choose to repost, and I will only be reposting them here.

**Disclaimer: I don’t own it, and I am making no money off of it.**

**AN: This story revolves around a slash relationship between Percy Weasley and Kingsley Shacklebolt. It begins about a year after the Final Battle and establishes Kingsley Shacklebolt as the Minister of Magic and Percy Weasley as his Senior Undersecretary. The prompt for this chapter was “angel wings.” **

** Kingsley may seem OOC in these first chapters, but even the Minister of Magic is not a saint. Power can corrupt anyone, and Kingsley is certainly not immune.**

Percy Weasley was not having a good evening. It was bad enough that the Ministry had decided to have a costume ball. What was worse was that the Minister of Magic Kingsley Shacklebolt had insisted on choosing Percy’s costume. Granted, Kingsley was his lover. But beside Kingsley’s crimson auror robes, Percy looked ridiculous. Kingsley had decided that Percy should be an angel. So here he was beside the Minister, dressed in a long white robe that bore far too much resemblance to the kind that the late and lamented Albus Dumbledore used to wear, an equally ludicrous gold halo that fastened around his red hair like a woman’s tiara, and a pair of disappointingly small white wings that weren’t even magically enchanted to look majestic or imposing.

It was only an hour into the party, and he was already tired of the stares, tired of the whispers, and tired of the jokes that he knew would end up in the society pages of the _Daily Prophet_ tomorrow. After all, angels were known for their chastity. 

He loved Kingsley. Really, he did. But as he watched yet another group of admirers fawn over the handsome Minister, Percy reached the end of his patience. 

With a whispered spell, he faded into the crowd and left the ball. Not even an auror was present when he slipped into an unused hallway and apparated to his flat. The first order of business was to discard the hated costume. Finally free of the ludicrous outfit, he put on some tea and made a light supper. Only then did he consider that his hasty, unannounced departure might have consequences. 

With a rude gesture toward the ceiling, he shrugged, finished his tea, and poured some firewhiskey. After all, he was the Minister’s aide, not his bodyguard. The man could certainly take care of himself. And it was not as if Kingsley was lacking for company.

Percy glared at the stack of _Daily Prophets_ on the table. He had read them all and kept them all. He knew too well what they said. The wizarding world had concluded that Kingsley and Percy’s relationship was in name only. Kingsley’s outright refusal to directly acknowledge Percy as his partner to the press (for all his hinting he’d never come right out and said it) or to allow the two of them to show any sort of affection to each other in public had led the gossips to speculate that Percy was chaste and possibly impotent as well. Surely, Kingsley kept Percy around as a distraction to draw attention away from the parade of men and women who found their way into his bed each night. A charming, handsome, powerful man like Kingsley had to swing both ways.

Kingsley just laughed it off. Percy bit his lip and turned away. He knew that there were no others in Kingsley’s bed, but it hurt all the same.

Sighing, Percy downed the rest of his whiskey and decided to call it an early night. Slipping into his empty bed, he wondered if he would wake to Kingsley beside him. 

He doubted it. It was a fact that he had long since resigned himself to. Percy Weasley never got what he wanted.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don’t own it, and I am making no money off of it.**

**AN: The prompt for this chapter was “chess piece.”**

It was late Saturday evening and well after Percy had eaten dinner before Kingsley finally made an appearance. Apparating into Percy’s sitting room, Kingsley stood looking rather uncertainly at Percy who set down his teacup and his book.

“Well, I see you made it through the ball in one piece. I trust that you did not have too terrible of a hangover this morning.”

Kingsley shook his head. “It was nothing that a potion couldn’t cure.” He paused, narrowing his eyes. “You left early last night. I was not pleased when I realized you were gone.”

Percy leaned back in his chair, and his blue gaze was uncharacteristically cold. “As it happens, I am not your keeper. You’re a grown man who can certainly take care of himself. Besides, my lovely costume had already supplied ample fodder for the latest edition of the _Daily Prophet_.” He waved the paper at Kingsley. “It seems they’ve moved beyond simply calling me impotent to speculating on when you are going to end our sham relationship.”

Kingsley shrugged. “I’ve told you before, Percy. Just ignore them.”

The younger man sighed and stood up. “I can’t do that, Kingsley. I won’t do that anymore.”

Dark eyes bore into Percy like a curse, but for the first time, Percy did not back down.

“Simply put, I’ve had enough of this. I’ve had enough of you treating me and our relationship like it’s worth nothing. I’m tired of being your dirty little secret.”

Kingsley scowled. “I have never kept you a secret! The whole world knows we’re in a relationship!”

“What kind of relationship do we really have? You’ve hinted of course but never stated outright to the public that we are in a relationship. You won’t even touch me except when we sleep together. You certainly won’t touch me anywhere that there is the slightest chance of anyone seeing us! And you refuse to take the _Daily Prophet_ to task for the lies it prints about me!” Percy’s cold stare got even colder when Kingsley responded.

“I have an image to uphold, Percy. You know that. What would people think if the Minister of Magic couldn’t control himself in public?”

Percy swallowed hard. “They’d think that he loved his partner. They’d think that he valued his family at least as much as his job. They’d think that he was a very normal man.”

Kingsley’s voice, usually so reassuring, was shaking with anger. “Normal people didn’t win the war, Percy. Heroes did!”

Percy’s voice hardened. “I know. I am no hero, and I never will be. I’m just a normal man. I’m not cut out for this.” 

Kingsley’s dark eyes narrowed even more. “What are you saying?”

“I’m tired of being your chess piece, Kingsley. I’ll remain your secretary if that is your wish, but our relationship is over. You’re welcome to find yourself another partner because I’m taking my piece out of play permanently.”

The Minister of Magic stared mutely at Percy. With great care, Percy raised his wand and shifted the wards of his flat to refuse Kingsley admittance. 

Suddenly, Kingsley Shacklebolt found himself alone. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don’t own it, and I am making no money off of it.**

**AN: The prompt for this chapter was “out of time.”**

Percy Weasley had not stopped loving him. Kingsley knew that now beyond a shadow of a doubt as he sat slumped in a chair beside his Senior Undersecretary’s hospital bed, keeping what he now knew was a death watch. 

Everything had happened so quickly. When a fugitive Death Eater had stepped out from the crowd at a public event and aimed his wand at the Minister of Magic, even Kingsley hadn’t seen him quick enough to get out of the way. But Percy had. He’d shoved the Minister aside just in time to take the full force of the dark curse himself. It hadn’t been the Killing Curse, but even Bill Weasley hadn’t been able to determine exactly what it was. 

All they knew was that it was killing Percy. The healers had told them that it would likely only be a few hours now. He wasn’t in pain, but there was nothing more they could do for Percy.

The entire Weasley family, among others, had been in and out for the past week. However, Kingsley had stayed the entire time, leaving the country in the hands of his Junior Undersecretary. The Weasleys knew that Percy had ended his relationship with the Minister of Magic, and they assumed that Kingsley was feeling guilty. Percy had sacrificed himself for him. Kingsley thought that Percy would be pleased to know that he was finally a hero. Even the_ Daily Prophet_ had recanted its slandering of him and had begun to refer to Percy as The Man Who Saved the Minister.

But Percy would never know.

“Kingsley, you really need to go home and rest. We can watch over him. You’ve got a country to run, and Andrew can’t handle things forever.” Molly rested a motherly hand on his shoulder. Gently, Kingsley pulled away, shaking his head.

“You don’t know the truth, Molly. None of you do. If it was merely guilt keeping me here, I wouldn’t be here!” Everyone in the room was riveted on the Minister of Magic as he spoke with a voice that shook with grief. “I’m here because I love this man! And he loved me with every fiber of his being and with a love that I most definitely did not deserve. He ended his relationship with me and rightfully so because I turned away from him! I was more concerned with my image than our life together, and I refused to put him first. I understand that now. But now, it is too late for me to tell him that.”

“Tell him what, Kingsley?” Arthur asked gently.

“I’m sorry.”

The Minister of Magic laid his head down on the bed beside Percy and wept.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don’t own it, and I am making no money off of it.**

**AN: The prompt for this chapter was “worth it.”**

For a few moments, the Minister’s sobs were the only sounds that could be heard. Then there was a small pop, and a lovely, very familiar phoenix was suddenly hovering above Percy’s head.

“Fawkes!” Harry Potter called out. No one had seen the bird since Dumbledore’s funeral. 

Kingsley was too wrapped up in his grief to notice the bird at first. But Fawkes' trill was enough to rouse him and leave him staring dumbly at the phoenix who carefully settled beside Percy on the bed. The phoenix’s song turned mournful as glistening tears began to trail down the feathered face directly into Percy’s open mouth. Nobody dared to move; people hardly breathed. Everyone feared disrupting the healing that they all desperately hoped was taking place.

And then it stopped. Fawkes was gone with an affectionate trill to Harry Potter, and Kingsley had Percy in his arms, murmuring comforting nonsense as he willed the phoenix tears to bring his lover back. 

Percy opened his eyes.

The Weasleys mobbed the bed, but Kingsley’s glare made them all back off as a healer ran to his side.

“Was that really Dumbledore’s phoenix?” the healer asked even as she began to run through a list of diagnostic spells to make sure that Percy was indeed fully healed.

Harry smiled. “It was. I would know Fawkes anywhere. I’ve always heard that Hogwarts takes care of her own, even to sensing the distress of her students from anywhere in the world. Percy certainly was one of her own. If anyone would know how to get Fawkes to come and help, it would be Hogwarts.”

Kingsley was not even listening to the bustle around him, and he flatly refused to hand Percy over to Molly. Percy looked up into Kingsley’s dark eyes, and he could see the tears that lingered there and streaked the Minister’s face.

“I’m sorry,” Kingsley said. “Damn you, Percy, don’t ever do that again!” He lowered his head to whisper in the younger man’s ear. “I’ll make it up to you. I’ll make it all up to you. Just give me one more chance. Let me try one more time to get it right.”

Percy wiped tears off Kingsley’s cheeks and managed a genuine smile. 

“We’ll try together.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I don’t own it, and I am making no money off of it.**

**AN: The prompt for this chapter was the dialogue, “I need to see you-in private.” **

“I need to see you in private,” Kingsley said in Percy’s ear. The younger wizard nodded, rising to his feet and following him into his office, locking, warding, and casting silencing charms automatically.

Kingsley smiled a little sadly. “That’s something you do without even thinking about it anymore, isn’t it? My ridiculous obsession with us getting caught has resulted in you constantly looking over your shoulder.”

Percy smiled sheepishly. “Old habits die hard. You’re trying to change, but I’ve been used to the way things were with us for so long. I’m still finding everything that’s happened to be a little hard to believe.”

The elder wizard caught Percy’s face in his hands. “Believe it. And if I’ve shocked you so far, that’s nothing compared to what I’m getting ready to do.”

Percy leaned back against the Minister’s desk. “What did you have in mind?”

Kingsley smirked. “I’m going to give the wizarding world a piece of my mind, in particular, the _Daily Prophet_, regarding how they have treated you.” Kingsley glanced at Percy, clearly ashamed. “I know it’s too little, too late.”

Percy caught the shame and smiled gently. “I told you I forgave you for that.”

Kingsley shook his head and sighed. “I appreciate that, but it’s time I took them to task.” The smirk crept back onto his face. “Afterward, I am going to see to it that we give them something to talk about.”

Percy folded his arms across his chest, his blue eyes curious. “Will I like it?”

Kingsley traced the contours of his lover’s face. “I do hope so.”

Later that evening, Percy stood in formal robes at Kingsley’s side trying not to wince as the Minister of Magic verbally dressed down their world with a severity not heard since the days of the First Wizarding War. But he was even more surprised when Kingsley turned to him.

“Having corrected our country, I must now do something much more difficult. I must correct myself.” The assembled crowd gasped, Percy included, as Kingsley went to his knees before him and held out his wand. Percy swallowed hard. To offer one’s wand to another was the humblest gesture of apology one could make. It was left to the wronged party to snap the wand or return it according to whether they forgave the other person. 

“I’m sorry,” Kingsley said, repeating before the entirety of their world what he had said when Percy had first returned to life. The tears fell again down the Minister’s face, and Percy chuckled softly.

“You didn’t need to do this.” He paused, smiling. “But it means everything to me that you did.” Following tradition, he raised the wand to his lips and kissed it before placing it back in Kingsley’s outstretched hands. “I return your wand. I return your honor. I declare you forgiven. Upon my magic, so mote it be.” 

The Minister’s eyes shone with tears as he reverently tucked his wand back into its wrist holster. When he did not stand, Percy grinned and reached down, clasping the dark hands in his own as he pulled him to his feet. 

Percy was startled when Kingsley caught him in a passionate embrace, wrapping his arms around the younger wizard even as he captured Percy’s lips. The kiss that followed took his breath away, and Percy surrendered without hesitation. 

Only when they broke apart for air did they hear the applause. Keeping his arm around Percy’s waist, Kingsley faced their people as Percy laid his head on Kingsley’s shoulder. In that moment, Kingsley realized what he’d nearly lost…and everything he had regained.

It was worth it. 


End file.
